Forum:Wiki overhaul
Basically, we've got several projects to do in order to bring this wiki up to some standards I've developed since adopting this wiki. This is the perfect opportunity to institute a medals program, and UotM. Reorganization Well the first thing that really bites me is how unorganized templates and such are on this wiki. I created and transferred some templates from other wikis, but their organization, their naming conventions, are annoyingly... loose. We have stuff like Template:Infobox Army and stuff like Template:MoH 2010 Weapons, both of which aren't well organized. We need to create basic domains (Infobox and Weapons template pages, with a forward slash denoting a subdomain thereof, so instead of MoH 2010 Weapons, it would be Weapons/MoH2010). Unfortunately, there are a lot of such templates, and the workload would be surprisingly overwhelming. Images Well, we need to rename and get to licensing a helluvalot of images. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of images on this wiki, almost all of which are unlicensed, and many of which have extremely confusing names (ie, "File:img-20110805-002321.jpg") To remedy the first problem, somebody has to go through and add the following category: Category:Unlicensed to images which have no or unusual licensing. The second one is a little more difficult. It would be the same basic remedy, however, with the category: Category:Odd name. Content When I first arrived, I shit you not there was like 200 pages here, and those that were here were generally subpar in terms of quality or length. I added a lot of content and fixed a lot of pages, but we're still so far from being done. For one thing, we need to be getting rid of base categories. Base categories are like Category:Medal of Honor 2010, which should be saved only for its namesake page, and subcategories thereof (so Category:Medal of Honor (2010) Weapons would be one of the only things to have the base category). We also need to make sure we've gotten everything covered, following the rules set down by our Manual of Style and Article Policy. That includes making sure what we already have done has proper formatting and naming, etc. And pictures. Re-designing the format Well currently, at least in my opinion, the layout of most of our articles are a little ugly. I created the article policy, and for shorter articles (ie, articles that concern only a small amount of information, like the M16A4 article) it works. But for really, really long articles (like the M1911 page), this doesn't quite work right. One of the problems, I think, is the lack of actual information for each individual section. Awards Also see Forum:Medals IMO, we should get this thing finally up and running. There are three types of "medals", basically awards similar to the BF wiki's award system. Like I outlined in Forum:Medals, there would be three types of awards. Ribbons, medals, and commendations. Ribbons are awarded for participation in wiki projects. Commendations are the basic award, given out like candy for each user by bureaucrats and administrators. Basically, my version of Wikia's badges. Medals are like advanced commendations, for doing something outstanding. The first ribbons would be for the couple projects outlined above. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 00:11, August 6, 2011 (UTC) Discussion That's my spiel. I need other people to help me here, so I BEG you people to add input and acutally help. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 00:11, August 6, 2011 (UTC) : I'll be the one helping you. I feel like a big idiot right now for not knowing all this and how to add stuff, etc. So, whatever you feel should be done to step up the wiki, I'll be onboard, after all, you're the head honcho. By the way, I've alway's liked the idea of commendations, medals, users of the month, etc. So I'll be definitely helping there, another idea I had was "sprucing up" the home page, since that's what non-registered users will first see, and I want them to like what they see. We should have more than just blog posts on the side, is what I'm saying. Based on the fact that this is really a sub-wiki, I don't think that some short articles can be helped. In my mind, the 2 liner stubs should be the first to be revised rather than those of the M16A4's length, and then work up from there. And as for pages that are long, for something like the M1911 which has been featured in pretty much every pre-2010 Medal of Honor game is unavoidable. Also, maybe you should make it so the licensing options for images are up front. The most likely reason why no one is liscensing their images is because the options for it are hidden. In any case, any images posted on this wiki should be covered by Fair Use Law since it is for educational purposes. Also, the addition of Infobox Templates for vehicles would be very nice. LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 04:50, August 6, 2011 (UTC) :There should be an infobox for vehicles. I swear I made one like a year ago when I first got here. If not, I'll get one up tomorrow. :As for licensing, well the problem is that most people don't know the problem exists to begin with. Though you're right about Fair Use, it's still good practice to attribute the original owner (especially when the image is not in the public domain or released for use at all). Some people/corporations take the usage of their licensed works without their permission very seriously (Wikia was threatened witha lawsuit prior to the release of MW2 because the CoD wiki was using leaked images). The licensing options aren't hidden if you use the toolbelt feature of the new Oasis skin, it's just the "add a photo" thing on the side of the page that has that problem. :Also, what did you mean by "sub-wiki"? Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 04:57, August 6, 2011 (UTC) : : :Well, when I add images it's pretty much through an article on the default layout. And you have to click on "More Info" to get to them. This isn't THAT inconvenient, but someone may not know they are there (as I didn't). And what I meant by sub-wiki, this place isn't like Wikipedia and it isn't like the Star Wars Wikia. The articles here are written in the context of the Medal of Honor universe, which in comparison to the real world and the Star Wars universe is quite small, so smaller article sizes comes with the deal, especially since a lot of the articles are based on things that are featured only in one of two games. And also, the default Infobox template builder can suffice for a Vehicle Template if there isn't one. I just didn't see it because I edit in HTML source code. LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 05:06, August 6, 2011 (UTC) ::It's Template:Vehiclebox. That's what I mean by unorganized naming, too. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 16:07, August 6, 2011 (UTC) :: ::We need to work on the MoH 2010 articles alot more because that's mostly what people will want to see. When someone wants to read an article about the character Tariq, and get a 1-2 line stub, they'll go "meh". :::Well seeing how there's very little background for that character... Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 02:10, August 7, 2011 (UTC) ::::That was hypothetical, I meant MoH 2010 articles in general. ::::PS- There's no background at all for Joe Baylor, but there's still lots of words. : I am not an expert on MoH2010, so PLEASE help. I'll be focusing more on ''Medal of Honor'''s stuff. :::::That's different. Joe Baylor actually has a part in gameplay/story. Tariq has both no background, as well as almost no influence on or inclusion in gameplay. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 01:19, August 8, 2011 (UTC) ::::::I understand. I'll be getting a pic of Tariq soon for his article. ::::::Anyways-my ideas: :::::*Template: Cite Web would be GREATLY APPRICIATED. :::::*Medals, Decoration, Ribbons. :::::*More detailed infoboxes. :::::*Stuff that CoD wiki has. :::::*A "Zero Tolerance" policy (i.e. kinda like CoD wiki's, but more strict) :::::*More features on home page :::::*This is not a complete list, I'll add more as I go. ::::: Elaborate on the "Zero Tolerance Policy." Based on the activity here, I don't see the reason why we would need one. LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 03:23, August 8, 2011 (UTC) ::: I am not an expert on MoH2010, so PLEASE help out there. I'll be focusing more on ''Medal of Honor'''s stuff. ::::::My aim was never to create a CoD-wiki clone here. I want to be inclusive of policies and other stuff that actually benefit the wiki rather than act as a detriment. A lot of what the CoD wiki does or has (policy-wise, at least) is pretty detrimental. ::::::I also fail to see what could be added to the homepage that would make it any better than it is currently. For one thing, I have no idea how to format homepage coding, as it is different from all the other pages, MediaWiki, template, or content. Secondly, everything that is needed is there: links to different content types, a newsfeed, and other stuff. The only thing I can see being important would be something to balance out the bottom a bit to make it a bit less awkward. ::::::I would transfer Wikipedia's Cite Web template, but honestly, it's too much work for very little payoff. (Unrelated note, AS360, you have to stop typing out "template". The two { symbols automatically denote "template") ::::::And no, no zero-tolerance policy. Tried it once, but we have specific policies for a reason. Yeah, vandalism and other bull gets frustrating, but it appears more professional when we aren't permabanning peeps at every turn. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 04:12, August 8, 2011 (UTC) :::::::Zero tolerance was kinda stupid anyways, I now get that we shouldn't be a CoD wiki clone (I was inspired by all the things they had). They reason I wanted "cite web" was I believe that we should have good, clean, non-red linked references or explanatory notes. I don't think we need "cite book" because I think the results look good enough when doing a certain number of steps. Pretty much it for now, now that I know it is hard to add stuff on home i'll lighten up a bit. ::::::: I was also thinking of redesigning the background to be a bit more content-friendly (currently there's just a grey slate thing on the right side. And example below: Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 00:16, August 11, 2011 (UTC) ::: Why Pacific Assault though? Anyways, sounds like a great idea, I would have never thought of that. :::: Well, it fits. It kinda accents Dusty standing there all casually with his aggressiveness. Plus, it fits well enough that you can see the parts of his profile that matter. LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 00:33, August 11, 2011 (UTC) :::::: :::::: I think you should do it Yuri. Just one problem: you're going to cut off most of Conlin's figure. :::::::This was just to give you all an idea of what it'd look like. Personally, I'd rather do something like a collage, with pics from a bunch of the different games, not just two. If you guys have any suggestions, feel free to post or link a picture here. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 02:24, August 11, 2011 (UTC) ::::::: ::::::: Is there anyway we could change the background of the image section of the infoboxes from white to the black that is used for the body? The white is kinda ugly and makes the captions unreadable. LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 02:35, August 11, 2011 (UTC) :I just did. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 03:08, August 11, 2011 (UTC) :::: I have no idea, but I came up with an somewhat impressive collage, but it wouldn't work as a background. Here it is: :::::: :::: Well, this is the best thing I could do in 10 minutes. :::::: :::::::TBH that wasn't exactly what I meant. I'll do something with like four or five pics for the right side. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 03:08, August 11, 2011 (UTC) A slightly better cropped version of the above here: 500px Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 16:24, August 11, 2011 (UTC) :I'll set it up as a sort of beta for a while, and if you all like it then we'll keep it. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 18:12, August 11, 2011 (UTC) ::::He looks a little stretched out, but other than that it's fine. Another potential option. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 19:40, August 11, 2011 (UTC) :: OOOOOOHHHH YESSSSSSSS!!!!! Me Gusta. I'll put it as the background for a little while. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 19:44, August 11, 2011 (UTC) :: Lookin' good to me. :::Yeah lookin' real good. It's giving me ideas :P By the way, you should rename your templates kinda like we did at the BF Wiki. It's simpler and much much more convenient. SSDGFCTCT9(Talk) 02:44, August 12, 2011 (UTC) Okay, so the new background's up. What does everyone think? I think this one will be the permanent one. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 14:56, August 12, 2011 (UTC) :: I like it, but can we make the "Medal of Honor Wiki" sign slightly transparent too? Because that's just a little looks problem. If not, I'll live. :::Yeah, give me a sec. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 15:54, August 12, 2011 (UTC) ::::It'll take a few hours to kick in, but I've done it. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 15:57, August 12, 2011 (UTC) :::::::Amazing, thanks. Okay, so for commendations, I've created a basic design for the thing (using a real-life commendation for service in the Spanish-American war), seen here. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 06:18, August 14, 2011 (UTC) : Is there anyway to have it automatically posted to the pages of users when they reach 500 pages? Seems easy for someone to miss it when someone passes that mark. LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 08:24, August 14, 2011 (UTC) :Unfortunately there is no way to do so. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 17:10, August 14, 2011 (UTC) ::: :::Looks cool. Another idea I've had is to have inter-language links between our wiki and the Spanish Medal of Honor wiki. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 19:04, August 14, 2011 (UTC) ::: Sure, seems like a plan. :::: The Spanish version looks pretty crap lol LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 22:26, August 14, 2011 (UTC) :::::Well it is our only sister wiki, so... Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 18:07, August 17, 2011 (UTC) Stub Template For like the past hour I've been trying to have the Stub template correlate with the Article stubs category in that if you put it in there, that article is automatically in that category. Right now, it doesn't list the articles its on in the category on the category's page but on the article's page it says it is. Any advice? LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 17:33, August 17, 2011 (UTC) :It already does that. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 18:06, August 17, 2011 (UTC) :::But there are only 6 listed here.... And most of them are from people manually putting in the category place "Article Stubs" as some don't even have the stub template LTJG. B.C. Matsuyama 22:01, August 17, 2011 (UTC) ::::::I believe the category only accepts MoH 2010 Stubs. :::::::/facepalm NO. The problem is that the template had category:Article stubs, instead of Category:Article stubs, which was fucking with the way the "includeonly" tags worked. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 23:16, August 17, 2011 (UTC) ::::::::Unfortunately, we have to go back and re-add the template, too. Йура15px|link=User talk:YuriKaslov 23:17, August 17, 2011 (UTC)